Gambling and Households: New Gambling Directive at Mass Observation Archive

Lead Research Organisation: Kingston University
Department Name: Sch of Social Science

Abstract

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Description The key findings of the project were threefold as follows:

1. The research reveals gambling to be a strongly relational activity. It demonstrates that 'risk work' and especially the reproduction of gambling patterns, behaviours and attitudes of gambling are strongly connected to interpersonal relationships. Gambling was often discussed interchangeably alongside the home, families and intimacies. This was perhaps a consequence of the nature of Mass Observation which invites correspondents to reflect on the details of their personal lives. However, this discovery represents an important development in gambling research which has tended to locate gambling practice as an activity disconnected from routines of everyday life and broader interpersonal relationships. One key theme emerging from the data was that of 'gambling secrets'. Observers recalled regular occurrences where gambling was purposefully hidden. Most often observers said that they hid their gambling in order avoid exposing their children to an activity which they saw as potentially harmful. In particular, observers wrote about various ways in which they sought to avoid gambling becoming part of everyday life, and described a fear of normalising gambling, for example observer F4322, a 45 year old woman said that she wouldn't pin a lottery ticket on the wall in order to prevent her daughter from imagining gambling to be normal and unproblematic.

However, other observers saw gambling within broader networks and relations as positive and as a key part of minimising the risk of developing dangerous or problematic gambling practices. These observers argued that gambling with others especially family members and colleagues acts as a 'safety measure', for example B4236, a 28 year old man who remarked 'your mates will normally stop you from doing something really stupid or from misjudging what you're doing'. Thus observers often saw online gambling as more risky because it is so individual.

2. The research illuminated some of the social class dimensions of gambling, especially attitudes towards and the dream of winning money. Gambling facilitates narratives of 'imagined futures' which enabled observers to extend the pleasure of gambling beyond simply the act of gambling itself. These narratives revealed notable class distinctions especially in terms of the appropriateness of utilising gambling as a way to make money. Middle class observers tended to see money acquired through gambling as undeserved wealth and gambling products as tacky artefacts of working class life. For middle class observers, narratives of gambling reflected a middle class habitus of appropriate vs. inappropriate ways of making money. In contrast, working class observers described gambling as legitimate means of dealing with poverty and financial uncertainty.

3. The research demonstrates that gambling reproduces patterns of intimacy. It shows that moral accounts of appropriate intimacies were re-enacted through the narratives, and self and family identities reformed. Observers wrote not only about the moment of gambling, but also the sights, smells and sounds - the sensory experience - of gambling. The research shows that accounts of the past are frequently inscribed on present day experiences of gambling and that observers constantly described a 'connectiveness' to experiences and people especially relatives from the past. As one observer C4431 an unemployed man remarked 'gambling is in my veins'.
Exploitation Route The archive 'Gambling and Households' that was established by this project, is held at Mass Observation Archive, The Keep, Brighton, Sussex. This is a public archive open to all.
Sectors Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
 
Description This project set up a new 'Directive' at Mass Observation Project entitled 'Gambling and Households'. The project sought to record and document detailed information about individuals' everyday experiences and practices of gambling. It began from the premise that much existing research into gambling behaviour has tended to focus on the psychology of addiction and gambling pathologies. One of the aims of the project was to redress this imbalance. The project sought to understand why people regularly gamble despite rarely winning money; how ideas and attitudes towards gambling are connected to broader social experiences; and how relationships with others affect how and why people choose to gamble. It was decided that Mass Observation would offer an excellent way of answering some of these questions owing to the complex subjective detail historically provided by mass observers. The data reveals that gambling is a relational activity; that people make gambling decisions within the context of their broader relationships with others. It also shows us that people's attitudes and opinions about gambling (or their 'gambling identities') are often connected to their individual histories and experiences of gambling. The project also shows that rather than just being a 'thing that people do', gambling is entrenched in the fabric of everyday British life. Finally, the project reveals something of the modern British class system as observers often describe gambling as being an 'undeserved' route to wealth.
Sector Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Societal